Why I Pray Poem by Gajanan Mishra

I pray for the following in the prosaic manners below;

1) Oriya i.e.Odia movement was first started in the year 1895 when the then British Govt had imposed Hindi in place of Oriya in the lower courts at Sambalpur. The advocates of Sambalpur revolt against such decision. As a result of which the then Viceroy was pleased and ordered that the language of the courts was Oriya 1902 Utkal Sammi Lani was formed with a view to use Odia language everywhere and to create a new state bifurcating the then Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Madras presidency on the basis of this Odia language for the interest of Odia people. And the present state of Odisha came into being on 1st April 1936 only on the basis of this Odia language, first of its kind in entire Asia.

2) India got independence in the year 1947 from British or say English rule. The Constitution of India came into force on 26th January 1950. The preamble starts with ' we, the people of India' and further it says that the people are the ultimate authority and the constitution emerges from them. The preamble contains the declaration that' to secure to all citizens justice, social, economic and political, liberty of thoughts, expression, belief, faith, and worship- equality of status and of opportunity. The Constitution of India in its 8th Schedule has not provided English as a language of Indian Union. English is there to be used for a temporary period and as a link language. In part XVII from Article 343 to 351 provides provisions for use of the Hindi and other languages of India. Sir, we have a democratic form of Govt which means of the people, by the people and for the people. The sovereign people of India elected their representative or the legislative body to form laws for them. The people in general, are at the center of all. And hence transparency must be maintained, it is possible only when the language of the people would be used everywhere.

3) Subject to the provisions of the Articles 346 and 347 of the Constitution of India, the legislature of Orissa state by law adopted the Oriya language to be used for all or any of the official purposes of this state Vide Orissa Act XIV of 1954(The Orissa Official Language Act,1954)


4) The Civil Procedure code section 137,138 read with OrderXVIII Rules 5,6,9 has provided the use of state language. So also The Criminal Procedure Code Section 272 has provided the provision for the use of state language in subordinate courts.


5) General Rules and Circulars Orders of the High Court of Judicature, Orissa (Civil) Section 9, and (Criminal) Section 7 provided the use of Oriya in Subordinate Courts of Orissa. Section 42 provided the use of English language in the process to Outside state or to Europeans and Anglo-Indians.

6) The state of Orissa is a state of villages and people of this state, in general, are ignorant, rustic and poor, who are suffering under some legal wrong and injury, since they are in poverty, they are socially and economically disadvantaged position, unable to approach the court for relief and hence the above petitioner, come forward to file this writ application. The petitioner has already written to the Hon'ble Chief Minister, Law Minister of Orissa to use the Oriya language always but they have given a deaf ear.

7) The Govt of Orissa is using everywhere, from Govt primary Oriya medium schools, Block/tehsils to secretariate, foreign English language without any law or basis and this act of the Govt is going against the interest of the people in general. The Govt of Orissa is not acting properly as per Orissa language Act 1954 and law Deptt. Notification no 894 dated 06.06 1972, Notification Political and services Deptt. No 8189 dated 14.4.1967, No 7113 dated7.4.1968 General Dept notification no 7152dated 29.3.85 Chief secy letter no 5345dt.21.3.95, No LL-11-28/2000,14594/LE, dated 30.11.2000 General Adm no 17558dt.27.7.2-12


8) This Hon'ble High Court has already given direction to pass or supply judgment in Odia language vide W.P.(C) no 5958/2007 Tikeram Vs State of Orissa and also already given direction to defendants or other parties to supply Odia copy of the petition and WS vide WP No 13622/2008 and WP No 139 / 2012.

9) The use of foreign English language everywhere and always is illegal, undemocratic, unconstitutional, erroneous and contrary to law, suffers from legal mala fide and hence very needs interference of the Hon'ble court

10) That the petitioner has no other equal, efficacious and alternative remedy than to invoke the extraordinary jurisdiction of the Hon'ble Court under Art 226 & 227 of the Constitution of India and seek relief in the interest of the general public. The petitioner or the Odia Okila Samiti was formed in the year 2008 with a view to use Odia language everywhere within the state of Odisha and take part in the education and legal awareness among the people of Odisha. It is also registered under Societies Regd Act XXI of 1860 vide Regd. No 6294-34 of 2008-2009.

11) The petitioner had requested the Hon'ble Chief Minister of OIdisha Navin Patnaik time and again to use language in speeches and in letters always, as this Oriya language is the soul of Odisha and the very basis of forming this state. Last, letter was given the hand to hand on 27.10.2008 at his residence Navin Niwas Bhubaneswar. But it bears no fruits.

12) Since 2013 Oriya language has already been recognized as a classical status of India with a rich heritage and tradition. It is the lingua franca of Odisha. But the Govt of Odisha is careless to use this language and by using the foreign language, The govt has kept the people of Odisha in dark on the day to day functioning of Govt.For this reason, the petitioner has given notice on 22.2.2015 to the Chief Secy to use Oriya, the state official language everywhere failing which the petitioner would go for hunger strike from 1st April 2015. Accordingly, the one-day hunger strike is observed there in front of Raj Bhawan Bhubaneswar. When the Govt of Odisha has given a deaf ear to the legitimate demands of the petitioner, Again fast unto death from 1.7.2015 notice was served on the Govt on 12.4.2015. The fast-unto-death was started at Lower PMG Bhubaneswar from 1st July 2015 with the mass supports till 8th July 2015. On 8.7.2015 the Hon'ble Law Minister Mr. Arun Kumar Sahu came to the spot of the fast and admitted the mistakes of Govt of Odisha and assured at the spot to use Odia always from 1st August 2015 and so requested to withdraw the strike as Govt has realized the mistakes and as the world famous Ratha-yatra was approaching. For the smooth management of rath yatra and believing in the version of the Hon'ble Law Minister The fast unto death was called off. On 1.8.2015 a meeting was held by the Minister with some secretaries and subsequent meetings were also held 22.11.2015,12.1 2016. Everything was on pen and papers only. A man is yet to get letters.order/judgment in state official language from any office or school or from lower courts in spite of all the above provisions. The words of the Hon'ble law Minister at the spot of fast unto death was not in good intention and just to kill the time, and the Govt is cheating the people in general.
13) LLB course in Oriya is necessary here for the smooth functioning of subordinate courts through Odia language and that would make judiciary transparent. It is necessary to gain trust or faith of the people.

Think for a while, this is our sovereignty here, we are enjoying.

I pray for my mother, language and land and people at large-